Can anyone provide me with any information about
the above 32 mm diameter brass embossed, uniface check. I acquired it from a
source who believed it to have had an association with a colliery winding
engine man from Easington in the Durham Coalfield. The check appears to show
the outline of a building with a representation of a "NE" monogram on the end
of a flag pole. In side the building is what I can only interpret as a further
monogram of the letters "WT". Could the "WT" monogram stand for "Winding
Token" ?

Any information as to what this check
is, what it was used for or how old it might be would be greatly appreciated.

Submitted By :
Ian Jacks.

Date:
June 2006.

REPLY No.1

I have seen
similar representations of a colliery head gear flying a "NE" flag type
monogram on at least two other British Coal era items from the North East.
Firstly the well known checks/fobs from Dawdon Colliery which are believed to
have been made around the time of the infamous 1984/85 miners' strike. These
are also 32 mm diameter and uniface. The design is die stamped into the check
with a black ink/paint infill.

The same design
as that shown on the Dawdon check/fob also appears on a 50 mm square
transparent Perspex paper weight containing an encapsulated lump of coal.
These cubic paper weights were produced as a commemorative item to mark the
21st Anniversary of the Sam Watson Rest Home on 27th of May 1982.

Submitted By :
Mark Smith.
Date: June 2005.

REPLY No.2

The embossed "TW"
monogram on this check or fob stand for the initials of Tursdale Workshops.
This was an NCB Area Workshop located in southern County Durham close to the
site of Bowburn Colliery. The workshops are still standing and form part of a
modern industrial Estate. The workshops themselves stood on the site of the
earlier closed Tursdale Colliery. This pit eventually merged with Bowburn
before the latter closed c.1968.

I was sent one
of these checks by a man at the workshops when they were still operating. I
don't know what function they were used for.

Submitted By :
Ivan Dawson.
Date: January 2011.

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